What is it like to be ...? - Being a

3 important questions on What is it like to be ...? - Being a

What is Thomas Nagel’s vision on consciousness?

He said: consciousness makes the mind-body problem hard to control. Consciousness = subjectivity. To make consciousness clear, he used ‘the bat’

What does Nagel mean with ‘what is it like to be a bat?’

The essence of the belief that bats have experience, is that there is something that it is like to be a bat.

Bat’s experiences must be very different from ours, that’s why he chose the bat (echolocation). We cannot know what it is like to be a bat. It might be like seeing is for us.

What is access consciousness?

Availability for use in reasoning and rationally guiding speech and action


  • reflective consciousness: high order reflection about consciousness or thinking about thinking

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